Photocopiers the latest identity theft risk

Tax time is nearly upon us, and if tradition holds true we will in early April see boxes of TurboTax software anxiously poking out of the postman’s bags. Other perhaps will fill out their tax forms unassisted (good luck!), and it is to them that we offer this warning: do not be one of the 25 percent of Americans who photocopy their returns on a public Xerox machine. According to Computer World, “photocopiers are the newest threat of identity theft … because newer models equipped with hard drives record what’s been duplicated.” This means that unless particular security measures have been taken, it would be very easy for an unscrupulous person to access a user’s social security and employee identification numbers. Moreover, the thief could see if the victim had enough income and credit to make identify theft worthwhile. No cases, however, have yet been reported.

According to a survey condicted by copier maker Sharp, 54 percent of respondants are blissfully unaware of the risk. “Everyone forgets that there’s data in there,” said Avivah Litan, an analyst with Gartner Research. “Copiers and other intelligent devices like multifunction printers are very exposed in the enterprise. They’re open to attack via modems, and people forget about changing the default passwords.” Fortunately, two-thirds of respondants in the Sharp survey also said that, now that they know the truth about the risk, they would cease the practice. According to Computer World, both Sharp and Xerox now offer photocopiers that encrypt and then “shred” copied images.